KHL: Spartak Moscow is looking for a new head-coach

The first two games of the Conference Semifinali will start tomorrow, but there are also some news from the KHL outside the Gagarin Cup.

After leaving SKA St. Petersburg Spartak has to look for a new head coach. Spartak General Manager Alexei Zhamnov also took over as Head Coach of Vadim Yepanchintsev in mid-October. He will relinquish this position in the coming season, while the 48-year-old is also working for the Russian Federation. The two assistant coaches, Maxim Zhamnov and Igor Ulanov, should stay with the club.

At the Chinese club Kunlun Red Star the US American Curt Fraser will remain head coach. For the second time in a row, the Red Star did not make it to the PlayOffs. Now the team is to be rebuilt and the squad should consist of up to 50% Chinese players. But this will probably stay at the beginning of the upcoming season again at the „should“.

Slovan Bratislava held a press conference last week. Of course, they were not satisfied with the past season. Looking for a player this past summer, according to head coach Vladimír Országh, proved to be very difficult. Some players did not want to come and so you had to take players from the second row. Also talked about the future of the club. New investors are to be found by the end of the month. Should these be absent, a return to the Slovak Extraliga would be possible. The priority, according to Club Vice-President Juraj Siroky Jr., is clear in the KHL. It was also confirmed that there were some arrears in the player’s salaries this year, and there are also talks with the city regarding the open stadium payments.

In Minsk there was a lot of unrest around Dinamo Minsk. The main sponsor Belaruskali withdrew and Belarusian President Lukashenko refused to give the club any money. Therefore, a best-of-3 series was launched against Yunost Minsk. The winner should play next season in the KHL games. President Lukashenko was present at all three games. At the start he saw Yunost’s 4-2 win in the Minsk Arena. Dinamo defeated 2-1 at Chizovka Arena on Thursday and they played their third match at Minsk Arena. There Dinamo Minsk prevailed then only in the penalty shootout.

Dinamo head coach Andrei Sidorenko after the successful: „Thanks to the team. We took the challenge and won.“ Sidorenko also said that those who came to Dinamo with a sword lost it. Therefore, the Dinamo coach saw these games as the most important of the season. Addressing President Lukashenko, who initiated these games, Sidorenko said: „I know him very well and he’s always looking for the right moment, he knows how to do it.“